- Lot 190

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Lot n° 190
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- Lot 190
CANOVA, AFTER. FRANCESCO RIGHETTI (1749-1819) AND LUIGI RIGHETTI (1780-1852) Napoleon I in March unarmed and peacemaker Patinated bronze signed on the terrace. On a green marble base. Height : 48 cm. B.E. Empire period. History: In 1801, the leaders of the Cisalpine republic, on the occasion of the general peace, commissioned a monumental statue of Napoleon from the most famous sculptor of his time, Antonio Canova. The original statue was made by Antonio Canova between 1802 and 1806. The bust was made from life. Canova completed the statue in 1806, and it was destined for a public square in Italy or the Louvre Museum. When Napoleon saw it in April 1811, he judged it "unseemly" according to the accounts of the time. In 1816, Louis XVIII sold it to the British government, which presented it to the Duke of Wellington. It has since been kept in the Wellington Museum at Aspley House, London. Prince Eugene commissioned a life-size bronze replica from the Roman founders Francesco and Luigi Righetti (Pinacoteca di Brera) Several reductions were also made by Francesco and Luigi RIGHETTI. The dated pieces date from the Empire and the following were executed after the death of Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor holds a sceptre in his left hand and a globe topped by a winged victory. His cloak is held by a clasp with the Imperial Eagle. His sword is hanging from a tree trunk. Some models like the one in the Louvre or the one we are presenting, do not have the winged victory and this is original. Related works : There are a few rare examples in public collections, one in the Wallace collection, one in the collections of the Museum of Capodimonte, a few examples in private collections. Biography: Francesco Righetti associated his son Luigi (1780-1852) with his foundry business at an early age. In 1808, Francesco and Luigi Righetti were personally commissioned by Canova to cast the difficult bronze statue of Napoleon, which was completed in November 1809, in the Vatican workshops. From then on, they remained Canova's favourite interpreters when he wanted to translate one of his works into bronze. Luigi Righetti remained in Rome when his father transferred his activity to Naples in May 1813, called by Joachim Murat to cast the monumental equestrian statue of Napoleon that Canova had made, a statue that, due to the fall of the Empire, became that of Charles III of Spain, and which still adorns the Piazza Plebiscito in Naples. Francesco returned to Rome, where he died in 1819 Luigi Righetti kept the direction of the Roman factory until 1829, when he moved to San Georgio di Cremano, near Naples, in a sumptuous villa that was his property and still exists. The Neapolitan workshop was kept open for thirteen years from December 1829 until 1842. Bibliography: Frédéric CHAPPEY, "Antonio Canova's Napoleon in Disarmed and Peacemaking Mars, a Dreamed Oxymoron", in "Napoleon and Europe".
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